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eponymous_roseTitle: The Deepsky Atlas (2/?)
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
eponymous_rose
Word Count: 1715
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Adventure, Humour
Characters: Fourth Doctor, Harry Sullivan, Sarah Jane Smith
Summary: Constellations are nothing more than whole stories written in the sky for anyone to see - this is one of them.
Part One: Circinus
THE DEEPSKY ATLAS
CHAPTER TWO
"Oof- Harry!" Sarah stumbled on the loose sand, barely managed to keep her footing, and struggled to keep hold of the Doctor's legs. Harry was staring at the horizon, brow furrowed in thought, and his grip had slackened. "I thought you had his arms!"
Harry blinked at her, then seemed to come back to himself. "Sorry, sorry!" He adjusted his grip under the Doctor's shoulders and heaved him back up, which was enough for Sarah to lose her own tenuous hold on his legs. "Here, now," Harry said, and let the Doctor drop back to the ground. A puff of fine sand wafted up with the impact, and Sarah found that glaring at Harry while in the midst of a sneezing fit was on the counterproductive side of things. "This isn't working," Harry said, quite unnecessarily.
"Well," Sarah said, and sneezed again. "What alternative do we have? We can't just leave him!"
Harry bent down to inspect the makeshift bandage he'd set over the Doctor's wounded shoulder. "Seems to be coming along well," he said, and glanced up. Sarah, realizing he was on the point of suggesting they look for help on their own, attempted her most fierce scowl.
"Not that well," she said. "I've known him longer than you; sedatives and tranquilisers and that sort of thing don't... don't mix well with his physiology." She looked down at the Doctor's face, still slightly smiling as though in a peaceful sleep - which, for all she knew, could well be the case - and crossed her arms. "Sometimes, anyway."
Harry was looking up at her with the raised eyebrows and innocent expression that meant he was about to try and convince her she was wrong. She hated that look; it meant wheedling and cajoling and lots of "old thing"-ing, and she wasn't much up to that sort of conversation, not with the Doctor out for the count and the TARDIS apparently inaccessible and still no sign of any dratted city-
"I say," Harry said abruptly, staring over her shoulder. She spun round, half-expecting another flickering robotic guard, but all she could see was sand and sky. "There it is again! I knew I'd seen something."
"What?" She crouched down beside him, trying to follow his line of sight. He pointed, but all she could see was- "Is that a light?"
It was just a small flash on the horizon, only distinguishable from the flickering of airborne particles of sand by its duration, and it died away almost immediately, but they'd both seen it. Harry grinned at her. "That looks promising."
"Look," Sarah said, "if we're that close, we may as well carry him the rest of the way. Right?"
"Right-o, then," Harry said, conceding the point, and they recommenced the difficult task of carrying the Doctor across the sliding sands.
"Wind's picking up," Sarah noted after some time, blinking the grit from her eyes. She didn't want to think about what all the sand in her shoes was doing to her poor feet. "I haven't seen that light in a while, either."
"Don't panic just yet, old girl," Harry said. Sarah refrained from snapping at him when she noticed the strain in his voice - he was worried, she realised, and trying not to show it. "I think I can make it out."
Sarah shifted her grip on the Doctor's legs and changed her awkward gait so that she was looking in roughly the same direction as Harry. "I don't see anything," she whispered, but the words were carried off by the growing wind.
It wasn't particularly hot, she noted, for a desert. The wind was really rather chilly, whipping away at the whorls of sand, making the whole thing seem like a daydream of warmth on a cold winter's day. A desert mirage in bleak winterscape. She shivered.
"Harry?" He was squinting at the blank horizon, and seemed not to have heard her. The wind was whistling in her ears, now, so she raised her voice and tried again. "Harry?"
He glanced over to her. "This doesn't look good," he called over the howling wind. "I think we should turn back - looks much clearer the way we came."
"We can't," Sarah said. "We really can't. The Doctor-"
Harry stopped in his tracks, and Sarah nearly dropped the Doctor again. "He's not always right, you know," Harry said, softly enough that Sarah nearly missed the words. "He's been wrong before."
"He's not wrong about this," Sarah said. "Come on, we must be getting close!"
Harry leaned towards her, and his words, half-obscured by the wind, were sharp and clipped. "We would have seen something by now, Sarah, some sort of buildings at the very least. I don't much fancy our chances out here if a real storm starts blowing!"
"We can't go back," she said, emphasizing each word, and tugged at the Doctor's legs. "Come on, Harry!"
After a moment's hesitation, he followed. "You know, I think I can see that light again," he said, squinting into the rising dust storm. "Yes, there it is!"
She smiled, but she knew he was lying, trying to keep her hopes up. "I told you so, didn't I?" she said, and his reply was lost to a particularly strong gust of wind. She stumbled and nearly lost her grip on the Doctor again. Her arms were sore, her fingers were freezing, and her eyes were starting to burn from the sand. "Not far now!"
It wasn't so much that the storm was worsening, she realised after a time. It just seemed to be a question of how far they walked - as though it were hovering over some point, and they were marching straight to the centre of it. Behind them, the air seemed almost perversely cleaner, more free of dust, quieter. She found herself glancing back over her shoulder more and more often, and, when the wind weakened momentarily, just enough for some of the larger bits of sand to settle, she could see that Harry was doing the same.
"Sarah!" he called, and she realised he must have done so several times before he'd managed to beat out the roar of the storm. "Sarah, there's a shadow up ahead!"
She turned to squint in the direction he was pointing, and gave a sharp cry as a gust of wind blew sand straight into her face. Coughing, she shifted the Doctor's legs - by now, she expected that Harry must be taking most of his weight - and scrubbed at her eyes with the sleeve of one arm. "I can't see!"
"It's a shadow, I'm sure of it!" Harry's enthusiasm was genuine enough that she knew there must be something up ahead - but she had a sudden horrible image of a still larger and thicker cloud of dust, waiting for them to stumble straight into its stinging sand.
"The light!" Harry said, and she swiped again at her streaming eyes and turned to meet his beaming, exhausted smile. There was a small cut over his eye, and she realized that some larger pebbles were being flung through the air along with the dust. "I'm sure I saw it again, Sarah - it's so much closer, we must be nearly on top of it!"
Sarah felt a sudden thrill of fear as a thought seized her - the robot, the guard that had wounded the Doctor, had been flickering, ethereal, just like this light. She looked down at the Doctor - Harry had at some point pulled his scarf over his face to act as some protection against the elements - and, not for the first time, wished he could tell them, could warn them about whatever they were-
A loud, booming sound echoed through the air, low and deep enough that it set Sarah's teeth rattling with the sheer volume-
Harry unceremoniously dropped his load to clap his hands over his ears, and she realised that she'd done the same without knowing it, and then the sound was mixed with a ringing in her ears and she stumbled a few steps before falling to her knees with the force of it-
It took her some time to realise it must have stopped; Harry was picking himself off the ground, barely visible over the rush of sand and silt, and his lips were moving but she couldn't hear a word of it-
-and he was smiling, laughing, gesturing wildly, and then the sound of the storm was flickering back within hearing, snatches of whistles and gusts here and there like a badly scratched record-
Sarah looked up.
A huge tower loomed over them, stretching up and up until it disappeared into the waves of sand and dust in the air. It must have been terribly old, but the metal had been scrubbed clean by the stinging sand, and Sarah wondered vaguely just how long this particular storm had been blowing-
-and then it sank in, really sank in, that they were safe, that they must have made it to the edge of the city after all, and a warmth rushed through her limbs, a pleasant, sleepy feeling, and there was something strangely familiar about that terrible sound and the shape of the tower-
"Sarah!" Harry's hand was on her shoulder, she realised, though she couldn't feel it; at some point she must have decided to have a bit of a lie-down, because she was sprawled flat on the ground, and she wanted to explain to Harry that the storm didn't seem so bad from down here.
His face was blurring in her vision, but she could still tell that he looked exhausted, that he was swaying and on the verge of collapse himself. And then, quite suddenly, his face disappeared from her line of sight, and another took its place, dark and featureless with hard, cold eyes that glinted like the flickering sand.
"Doctor?" she rasped, though it couldn't possibly be him, not when she and Harry had dropped him a few paces back.
The stranger leaned forward, his eyes narrowing. "I am Caelum," he said. "I am the Sculptor's Chisel."
"Oh," said Sarah. "Sorry."
Just before she fainted, she thought to wonder what a giant lighthouse could possibly be doing in the middle of a desert.
Author:
eponymous_roseWord Count: 1715
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Adventure, Humour
Characters: Fourth Doctor, Harry Sullivan, Sarah Jane Smith
Summary: Constellations are nothing more than whole stories written in the sky for anyone to see - this is one of them.
Part One: Circinus
THE DEEPSKY ATLAS
CHAPTER TWO
"Oof- Harry!" Sarah stumbled on the loose sand, barely managed to keep her footing, and struggled to keep hold of the Doctor's legs. Harry was staring at the horizon, brow furrowed in thought, and his grip had slackened. "I thought you had his arms!"
Harry blinked at her, then seemed to come back to himself. "Sorry, sorry!" He adjusted his grip under the Doctor's shoulders and heaved him back up, which was enough for Sarah to lose her own tenuous hold on his legs. "Here, now," Harry said, and let the Doctor drop back to the ground. A puff of fine sand wafted up with the impact, and Sarah found that glaring at Harry while in the midst of a sneezing fit was on the counterproductive side of things. "This isn't working," Harry said, quite unnecessarily.
"Well," Sarah said, and sneezed again. "What alternative do we have? We can't just leave him!"
Harry bent down to inspect the makeshift bandage he'd set over the Doctor's wounded shoulder. "Seems to be coming along well," he said, and glanced up. Sarah, realizing he was on the point of suggesting they look for help on their own, attempted her most fierce scowl.
"Not that well," she said. "I've known him longer than you; sedatives and tranquilisers and that sort of thing don't... don't mix well with his physiology." She looked down at the Doctor's face, still slightly smiling as though in a peaceful sleep - which, for all she knew, could well be the case - and crossed her arms. "Sometimes, anyway."
Harry was looking up at her with the raised eyebrows and innocent expression that meant he was about to try and convince her she was wrong. She hated that look; it meant wheedling and cajoling and lots of "old thing"-ing, and she wasn't much up to that sort of conversation, not with the Doctor out for the count and the TARDIS apparently inaccessible and still no sign of any dratted city-
"I say," Harry said abruptly, staring over her shoulder. She spun round, half-expecting another flickering robotic guard, but all she could see was sand and sky. "There it is again! I knew I'd seen something."
"What?" She crouched down beside him, trying to follow his line of sight. He pointed, but all she could see was- "Is that a light?"
It was just a small flash on the horizon, only distinguishable from the flickering of airborne particles of sand by its duration, and it died away almost immediately, but they'd both seen it. Harry grinned at her. "That looks promising."
"Look," Sarah said, "if we're that close, we may as well carry him the rest of the way. Right?"
"Right-o, then," Harry said, conceding the point, and they recommenced the difficult task of carrying the Doctor across the sliding sands.
"Wind's picking up," Sarah noted after some time, blinking the grit from her eyes. She didn't want to think about what all the sand in her shoes was doing to her poor feet. "I haven't seen that light in a while, either."
"Don't panic just yet, old girl," Harry said. Sarah refrained from snapping at him when she noticed the strain in his voice - he was worried, she realised, and trying not to show it. "I think I can make it out."
Sarah shifted her grip on the Doctor's legs and changed her awkward gait so that she was looking in roughly the same direction as Harry. "I don't see anything," she whispered, but the words were carried off by the growing wind.
It wasn't particularly hot, she noted, for a desert. The wind was really rather chilly, whipping away at the whorls of sand, making the whole thing seem like a daydream of warmth on a cold winter's day. A desert mirage in bleak winterscape. She shivered.
"Harry?" He was squinting at the blank horizon, and seemed not to have heard her. The wind was whistling in her ears, now, so she raised her voice and tried again. "Harry?"
He glanced over to her. "This doesn't look good," he called over the howling wind. "I think we should turn back - looks much clearer the way we came."
"We can't," Sarah said. "We really can't. The Doctor-"
Harry stopped in his tracks, and Sarah nearly dropped the Doctor again. "He's not always right, you know," Harry said, softly enough that Sarah nearly missed the words. "He's been wrong before."
"He's not wrong about this," Sarah said. "Come on, we must be getting close!"
Harry leaned towards her, and his words, half-obscured by the wind, were sharp and clipped. "We would have seen something by now, Sarah, some sort of buildings at the very least. I don't much fancy our chances out here if a real storm starts blowing!"
"We can't go back," she said, emphasizing each word, and tugged at the Doctor's legs. "Come on, Harry!"
After a moment's hesitation, he followed. "You know, I think I can see that light again," he said, squinting into the rising dust storm. "Yes, there it is!"
She smiled, but she knew he was lying, trying to keep her hopes up. "I told you so, didn't I?" she said, and his reply was lost to a particularly strong gust of wind. She stumbled and nearly lost her grip on the Doctor again. Her arms were sore, her fingers were freezing, and her eyes were starting to burn from the sand. "Not far now!"
It wasn't so much that the storm was worsening, she realised after a time. It just seemed to be a question of how far they walked - as though it were hovering over some point, and they were marching straight to the centre of it. Behind them, the air seemed almost perversely cleaner, more free of dust, quieter. She found herself glancing back over her shoulder more and more often, and, when the wind weakened momentarily, just enough for some of the larger bits of sand to settle, she could see that Harry was doing the same.
"Sarah!" he called, and she realised he must have done so several times before he'd managed to beat out the roar of the storm. "Sarah, there's a shadow up ahead!"
She turned to squint in the direction he was pointing, and gave a sharp cry as a gust of wind blew sand straight into her face. Coughing, she shifted the Doctor's legs - by now, she expected that Harry must be taking most of his weight - and scrubbed at her eyes with the sleeve of one arm. "I can't see!"
"It's a shadow, I'm sure of it!" Harry's enthusiasm was genuine enough that she knew there must be something up ahead - but she had a sudden horrible image of a still larger and thicker cloud of dust, waiting for them to stumble straight into its stinging sand.
"The light!" Harry said, and she swiped again at her streaming eyes and turned to meet his beaming, exhausted smile. There was a small cut over his eye, and she realized that some larger pebbles were being flung through the air along with the dust. "I'm sure I saw it again, Sarah - it's so much closer, we must be nearly on top of it!"
Sarah felt a sudden thrill of fear as a thought seized her - the robot, the guard that had wounded the Doctor, had been flickering, ethereal, just like this light. She looked down at the Doctor - Harry had at some point pulled his scarf over his face to act as some protection against the elements - and, not for the first time, wished he could tell them, could warn them about whatever they were-
A loud, booming sound echoed through the air, low and deep enough that it set Sarah's teeth rattling with the sheer volume-
Harry unceremoniously dropped his load to clap his hands over his ears, and she realised that she'd done the same without knowing it, and then the sound was mixed with a ringing in her ears and she stumbled a few steps before falling to her knees with the force of it-
It took her some time to realise it must have stopped; Harry was picking himself off the ground, barely visible over the rush of sand and silt, and his lips were moving but she couldn't hear a word of it-
-and he was smiling, laughing, gesturing wildly, and then the sound of the storm was flickering back within hearing, snatches of whistles and gusts here and there like a badly scratched record-
Sarah looked up.
A huge tower loomed over them, stretching up and up until it disappeared into the waves of sand and dust in the air. It must have been terribly old, but the metal had been scrubbed clean by the stinging sand, and Sarah wondered vaguely just how long this particular storm had been blowing-
-and then it sank in, really sank in, that they were safe, that they must have made it to the edge of the city after all, and a warmth rushed through her limbs, a pleasant, sleepy feeling, and there was something strangely familiar about that terrible sound and the shape of the tower-
"Sarah!" Harry's hand was on her shoulder, she realised, though she couldn't feel it; at some point she must have decided to have a bit of a lie-down, because she was sprawled flat on the ground, and she wanted to explain to Harry that the storm didn't seem so bad from down here.
His face was blurring in her vision, but she could still tell that he looked exhausted, that he was swaying and on the verge of collapse himself. And then, quite suddenly, his face disappeared from her line of sight, and another took its place, dark and featureless with hard, cold eyes that glinted like the flickering sand.
"Doctor?" she rasped, though it couldn't possibly be him, not when she and Harry had dropped him a few paces back.
The stranger leaned forward, his eyes narrowing. "I am Caelum," he said. "I am the Sculptor's Chisel."
"Oh," said Sarah. "Sorry."
Just before she fainted, she thought to wonder what a giant lighthouse could possibly be doing in the middle of a desert.
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Date: 2008-01-10 02:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-11 09:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-10 04:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-11 09:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-10 06:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-11 09:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-13 04:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-20 05:42 am (UTC)Y'know, I've had five different people recommend that show to me over the past week? I should probably watch an episode at some point. :D
Congratulations on being the author of my first Fourth Doctor story, even if in fanfiction only.
Ooh, thanks! The insanity is spreading!
Incidentally, if you search up "Cirnicus" on Google, this story is the fifth entry on the page.
*coughs* Yes, well, I was sort of wondering about that. And then I realized that I'd misspelled it in the link above - should be "Circinus". *hangs head* Whoops. ;)
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Date: 2008-01-20 07:00 am (UTC)Aha! (Except I wouldn't know, because I've never heard of that constellation.) Ah well. No harm done.
I should probably watch an episode at some point.
The beginning's always a good place to start. ("Rising", a two part pilot.) Also, features a Canadian character! Sorta, kinda, close enough.